Cases Programme

Launched in 2003, the oikos Cases Programme supports the development and use of cases on sustainability in courses on management, finance and entrepreneurship. It comprises the annual oikos Case Writing Competition and the oikos Case Collection.

The competition invites scholars from around the world to submit cases in one of three tracks on corporate sustainability (started in 2003), social entrepreneurship (started in 2009) and sustainable finance (started in 2013). An international panel of leading faculty evaluates the cases in a double-blind review process and gives written feedback to all authors. For each of the three tracks the judging committee selects the winners and runners-up. The first prize amounts to 3,000 CHF, the second prize is 2,000 CHF and the third prize 1,000 CHF.

Partners of the program include Ashoka, a global organization that identifies and invests in leading social entrepreneurs; caseplace.org, a dedicated and curated library of teaching resources provided by the Aspen Institute to support the integration of sustainability in business education; The Case Centre, the biggest collection of management case studies worldwide; as well as the University of St. Gallen, a front-runner in higher education business courses.

The oikos Case Writing Competition promotes the creation of high quality teaching cases on Corporate Sustainability, Social Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Finance. The competition welcomes entries from all parts of the world. Submitted case studies should be suitable for use in management, entrepreneurship and finance education and should be related to issues faced by real organisations and individuals.

Applicants

Applicants may be professors, teachers, research assistants or students of business administration, management, finance, economics or related areas.

Case entries may have more than one author. Each applicant may submit one case per track only.

If you are an author as well as a judge, you can only participate in one of the tracks that you do not serve in as a judge.

Prizes, Publication and Reviewer Feedbacks

The first prize in each track is 3,000 Swiss Francs, the second 2,000 CHF and the third 1,000 CHF.

The five finalist cases are – unless agreed otherwise – published and promoted either in the oikos free Case Collection, or as an inspection copy (without teaching note) on the oikos website and for sale with the Case Centre. For both options, the copyright fully remains with the case authors or the case authors’ institution.

All case authors receive feedback by two experienced reviewers on their case in the first round, and, if they are among the five finalists in their track, feedback on their revised case in the second round.

Evaluation Criteria

Accepted submissions are subject to a two-step double blind review process. For all three competition tracks the judging committee will pay particular attention to:

Concept and content – the integration of different sustainability dimensions (economic, social, and environmental), the topic relevance and the case’s potential to create a learning experience.

Form – the style of writing, quality of presentation and clarity of data.

Important Dates

Deadline for case submissions: December 1, 2016
First round decision: February 2017
Final round decision: May 2017

Requirements

The case submitted for participation must…

be written in English (max. 20 pages).

contain a case abstract (max. 200-400 words).

contain a case teaching note (max. 10 pages).

be submitted in one single file containing abstract, case and teaching note in the following format: the case should comprise max. 20 pages of case text and max. 10 pages of teaching note (excluding exhibits, pictures and graphs). The document should have a line spacing of 1.5 and use a font size of 11 and a standard page setup. Experience showed that short and concise submissions generally receive higher scores, as they respond better to teaching needs. Please download the oikos template in Microsoft Word here and submit your case in this format along with a PDF copy.

be accompanied by a release letter signed by the company in question, if the case is based on primary data.

be entirely unpublished on the day of submission. It must remain unpublished until the end of the review process.

not contain any indication of the authors and the names of the authors’ institution anywhere in the case and on any websites or other platforms.

be based on a recent real business situation or development starting from 2013 and be usable for teaching at business schools and universities.

be submitted via email to case@oikosinternational.org by December 1, 2016.

Terms and Conditions

Participating in the case writing competition means accepting the following terms and conditions:

You agree that if your case is among the five finalists, you will submit a revised version for the second review round taking into account the jury’s comments for improving the case.

You agree that if your case is among the five finalists, it is published either in the oikos free Case Collection, or as an inspection copy (without teaching note) on the oikos website and for sale with the Case Centre. For both options, the copyright fully remains with the case authors or the case authors’ institution. If you consider submitting a case and you have any concerns regarding this requirement, please contact us on case@oikos-international.org.

You agree that if your case is among the five finalists, a case abstract of your case will be published in the CasePlace.org database.

Runner-Up:All Good Bananas. Selling the Fair Trade Message
By Eva Collins, University of Waikato; Kate Kearins, Auckland University of Technology; Helen Tregida, Auckland University of Technology; and Steve Bowden, University of Waikato; New Zealand

Best Reviewer Award: Cheryl Kernot, Centre for Social Impact; Australia

The oikos Case Collection provides over 80 peer-reviewed cases on sustainability in management, entrepreneurship and finance to lecturers and other interested parties around the world. You find the cases in alphabetical order below.

Some cases in the collection are available for free as oikos Free Cases under the Creative Commons license. They are included with an asterisk below and you can browse them separately under oikos Free Cases. If you are a faculty member and interested in teaching these cases, you can request a free teaching note by sending us an email to freecase@oikos-international.org.

You find the list of winning cases by year under Winners. You can also access all cases with further filter options in our Publications.

The oikos Free Cases provide peer-reviewed cases on sustainability in management, entrepreneurship and finance to lecturers around the world for free under the Creative Commons license. You find them in alphabetical order below.

If you are a faculty member and you are interested in teaching these cases, you can request a free teaching note by sending us an email to freecase@oikos-international.org.

oikos Free Cases are also listed in the oikos Case Collection denoted with an asterisk. You can also access all cases with further filter options under Publications.

Yes, absolutely. By participating you agree that if your case is among the five finalists, it is published either in the oikos free Case Collection, or as an inspection copy (without teaching note) on the oikos website and for sale with the Case Centre. For both options, the copyright fully remains with the case authors or the case authors’ institution. If you decide for the latter option, the words “Inspection Copy” will be clearly marked on all pages of the document so that it cannot be used for teaching. Examples of inspection copies can be downloaded from our online case collection. If you consider submitting a case and you have any concerns regarding copyrights and publishing, please contact us on *protected email* and we can find a case by case solution.

2. How long should the case remain unpublished?
Since we guarantee a double-blind review process, the case must remain unpublished during the whole review process. This also includes the fact that there should be no references to the authorship of the case anywhere on the internet (e.g. in the author’s CV, research pages of the university, case database). As part of the screening process, we check this by searching for the case online.

3. I am concerned with the fact that an inspection copy will be posted on the oikos website. It is the policy of our university not to allow cases to be posted in this way.
By participating you agree that if your case is among the five finalists, it is published either in the oikos free Case Collection, or as an inspection copy (without teaching note) on the oikos website and for sale with the Case Centre. If you decide for the latter option, the words “Inspection Copy” will be clearly marked on all pages of the document so that it cannot be used for teaching. Examples of inspection copies can be downloaded from our online case collection. If you consider submitting a case and you have any concerns regarding this requirement, for example due to your university’s policy, please contact us on *protected email* and we will find a case by case solution.

4. Can I submit my case to the oikos Case Writing Competition if I have submitted my case in other competitions this year?
It is not a problem if you submit your case to another competition and win prizes in both competitions, as long as your case is unpublished.

5. Can I resubmit the case that did not win in the previous oikos Case Writing Competition?
It is possible to submit a new case which is based on the previous case that did not win. The new case should contain an update on the situation and ideally take reviewers’ comments into consideration. Unfortunately, we will not be able to accept a case which is identical to last year’s submission.

6. Can I submit a case if I am not an academic?
We do accept cases from non-academics, if they are co-authored with faculty, research assistants or students of business administration (or related areas). If you are not related to academia, we would advise that you invite an academic co-author for your case. Since we require teaching notes as part of the submission, your case will benefit from the involvement of the academic who can advise on how your case can be taught. We also recommend that the case is “practiced” in the classroom prior to submission to the oikos Case Writing Competition as this improves the quality of teaching notes.

7. I have written two cases. Can I submit both?
It is possible to submit only one case per track. This means that you can submit two cases only if they belong to different tracks. This also applies to co-authored cases.

8.What are the file formats for the case and teaching note?
The file formats for the case and teaching note is Word (.doc/.docx) and PDF as outlined in the “Call” tab.

9. Are there any rules about formatting the case and teaching note (e.g. page margins, font size)?
Yes, please refer to the “Call” tab. Please also make sure that there are no references to authors’ names and their university anywhere in the document.

10. I have a video as part of my teaching case. What is the best way to submit it?
The best way is to upload the case to one of the password protected video sharing web-sites, e.g. Vimeo. Please note that when uploading your video to Vimeo or another video sharing web-site, you should disguise your name and the name of the university. Also please include a link to your video in the teaching note.

11. I would like to submit a case in two parts, (A) and (B). How do you evaluate the length of the case, 20 pages for (A) + 20 pages for (B)? Or is it limited to 20 pages for both of them?
Each part should not exceed the 20 pages. However, our general advice is not to make the whole case too long as experience has shown that long cases generally receive lower scores.

12. Can the case be based on secondary data?
Yes, the case can be based on secondary data, which should be properly referenced throughout the document.

13. Since the collection of data took some time, my case is situated before 2013. Will my case be accepted?
Unfortunately, such a case will not be eligible unless you create a link to a more recent situation, for example by an introductory paragraph where the case protagonist reflects on the time before 2013. However, you would also need to present the current company situation. The intention of the oikos Case Writing Competition is to encourage the development of “fresh” cases describing recent events.

This FAQ section is regularly updated. If you have a question that is not answered here, please drop us a line on *protected email*. Thank you!